


rose in a desert storm

by brandflakeeee



Series: wait for me [5]
Category: Hadestown - Mitchell
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-05-29
Packaged: 2020-03-26 15:21:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19008487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brandflakeeee/pseuds/brandflakeeee
Summary: life continues. adjustments are made. hades is a big softie.





	rose in a desert storm

**Author's Note:**

> sorry for the delay! i've been moving this weekend and just now got wifi back! hope you enjoy!

Spring storms sweep across the countryside, bringing torrential downpours of rain and rolling thunder for most of the season, before it gives way into sweltering summer heat. Everything seems to burst to life at once and they're already saying how well the crops are turning out, that the harvest in the fall will be bountiful and enough to get them all through the winter months. Persephone has never been thanked so much than she is that season, along with her mother. The bar is packed every night as glasses lift in their honor and the goddess enjoys every moment of it. It's time the mortals had something to rely on. 

 

Orpheus hasn't finished his song yet, either. But she is happy to see him strumming his lyre here or there in other tunes - just not that ancient song that still won't leave her head. Just last week he'd played while she sang and the world had been alright. 

 

The air was humid, sticky, and made you want to crawl out of your own skin. Persephone had thrown the windows open every day since the last of the storms and it still did nothing to lessen the temperature inside. Early in the mornings she would work in the garden, tending to everything that seemed almost too vibrant. Better than it had looked in a while at least. Demeter would have plenty of fruits to turn into marmalade and more vegetables than she could cook in a year. The ground was soft despite the stifling air, and her current favorite place to rest was beneath one of the willows at the edge of the garden. It's long fronds created a dome of shade above her, and she spent many afternoons curled within its roots and reading or some other banal activity when the work was done. Just feeling the earth beneath her grow.

 

Thus was how the summer went, and she liked it just fine. 

 

Despite the insufferable days, the nights bring cool and pleasant air. Tonight was one of those blessed cool evenings that Persephone is grateful for as she traces the path back to her home. Fireflies illuminate the air in erratic, flickering splotches of light that cast eerie glows. She can still hear the party she just left; these nights the bar gets too full and they move the party beneath the stars instead, around a roaring campfire. Her basket is laden with small offerings to her, and another for her Ma that she intends to drop off before she goes home. She's exhausted - the heat takes it out of her. Doesn't help when she's currently growing something far more complicated than a flower. 

 

The lights are off at her Ma's house which means she's still out doing whatever. She assumes with Hermes, because he'd not joined them at the campfire that night. Persephone drops the basket on the doorstep before cutting through the garden toward her own slice of sanctuary. Its peaceful and still and quiet, all of which are a breath of fresh air. She meanders, pace slowing so she can appreciate the beauty of the garden in the moon glow. Fireflies still dance about the branches like little fairies, ducking and weaving through the leaves. 

 

She hums softly, the ancient melody tattooed on her bones. The song she knows that in the future, she will sing her baby to sleep with. Persephone is still trying to process it, truthfully. But there is hope. She has not had this one ripped away from her and already it's passed the weeks where the others had not. Her mother knows of course, and Hermes had worked it out of her, but that's all. She's been terrified to jinx it so she's kept her mouth shut, embracing her secret until she's certain her hope will not be shattered. It hasn't, and that hope and joy grows stronger with each day.

 

She hears a train whistle sharply and stops, rooted to the spot. She can see it's headlamp in the distance. Sometimes she forgets she ain't the only one to ride that train. Just the only one alive. That's where Hermes was, then. Ferrying more souls down under the ground. 

 

"Persephone in her mother's garden, sun on her shoulders, wind in her hair . . . ."

 

She smiles before she can stop herself.

 

"It ain't daylight." 

 

She half turns as her husband seems to melt from within the shadows of the earth. He looks the same as always, that smug smirk visible even in the dark. At least he's not wearing those damned glasses. 

 

"You're here."

 

"I missed ya." 

 

Persephone sets her basket down and crosses the distance into his embrace. He smells of the darkness below, the metallic tang of Hadestown. She breathes it in like a dying man needing air. He feels cool, a welcome thing in the sticky air. He weaves his fingers in her hair and they stand there for a while just like that. Maybe the air will be just a touch cooler tomorrow. Maybe the weekend, if her old man intends to extend his visit. She knows he dislikes the above ground. It is everything he is not and gives her everything he cannot. And yet he'd still tried to give her everything. All she's ever wanted was him. Why she'd married him.

 

She doesn't regret it. Not for a single moment. Thousands of years on and she still loves him. She knows what deal she made in splitting her time and she's never expected him to make the underworld like the above ground to please her. Not to mention he had done a real shit job of it. The Elysian fields had gotten her by. And him. He is always enough. 

 

"Wait." She says suddenly, drawing back to look at him. "Nothing's wrong is it? That why you're here?"

 

"Of course not." He smiles faintly, reaching up to remove his glasses and tuck them neatly in his breast pocket. He shifts a bit, uncertain, and Persephone picks up on it immediately. 

 

"Out with it."

 

"Your mother invited me."

 

She balks. It's always 'your mother' when he speaks of Demeter, never 'my sister'. They hate each other, but tolerate the other for Persephone's sake. 

 

"Said I should come for a visit. Thought it was a mighty fine idea. Left Hecate in charge for a bit. The dogs will have chewed through everything when I get back, I'm sure."

 

Oh, her momma is a meddler. She's gone and invited him up and he's here and she doesn't know what to say. Though she guesses it's better than meeting him at the station a few months down the line and her waistband is the size of a melon. She vaguely wonders if he'd drop right there of shock - the image is funny. Few things rattle her man, but this just might. 

 

"C'mon. I was just going to the house." 

 

She grabs her basket of offerings but he takes it from her and hooks it around the arm not wrapped around her. The fireflies are still floating around lazily to guide their way. 

 

"How are things down below?" She asks to fill the silence of their walk - which isn't really silence with all the frogs and bugs singing their nightly tunes. 

 

"Still getting better. How are things here?"

 

"Still getting better." She hums. The balance of life and death is restored for the most part. The cycle is coming back into rhythm as the king and queen renew themselves, renew their love. It'll take time, just like everything else worth anything in the end.

 

She shoulders open her front door - the heat makes the old wood warp and it sticks sometimes. Her windows are still open. Hades sets her basket on the small dining table and she sets about fixing something to drink. For the first time in a good long while she feels anxious. Stupidly, she knows. But her brain and heart work out of emotion, not logic. 

 

"It's good you came up. I've been missing you. Been meaning to write and make Hermes run it down to you, but work's been busy." She murmurs as she works, grabbing glasses and ice and the like. Her kitchen still smells like the vibrant white lilies in the center of her table; Orpheus had brought them to her just a few days ago. The boy is kind and Persephone has nearly taken him in. He needs someone to keep an eye on him. She fears he might do something stupid otherwise and quite frankly Persephone is tired of men doing stupid things. 

 

"You gonna tell me what's troubling you, wife?" Hades says quietly, brows knitted together. It ain't easy to keep secrets from each other. Not after thousands of years. She's garbage at secrets anyway. Can't keep them well. 

 

"Nothing's troubling me." She replies and hands him a cool glass of lemonade that once upon a time would've had moonshine or something sharp in it. He seems uninterested in the drink but obliges his wife with a sip or two before the glass is set on the coffee table that's stained with circles because some of her guests lack the ability to use a gods damned coaster. 

 

"But I did want to talk." She adds after a moment and sits with him on the sofa. It's so obvious how different they are - he sits rigid, straight and neatly composed while she curls her legs beneath her and leans toward him. 

 

When he looks at her, she can see that brief fear in his eyes. The one that makes him worry she ain't never gonna go back down under the ground with him. That she's demanding a divorce. Her hand immediately comes up to touch his face, quietly leeching those thoughts right out. He leans into her warm touch and she smiles softly. Those near silver colored eyes ease and the lines in his face lessen. He looks so much older when he worries; Persephone knows she's probably caused a good portion of those new lines. 

 

"I'm not leaving, lover. I already made that promise and I ain't breaking it."

 

"I see the life you have up here and I am constantly reminded of everything I can't give you." He half whispers. "Gardens. Sunlight. Happiness.  _ Life _ . You flourish here."

 

"You big idiot. I  _ am _ happy with you. Always have been. You're all I've ever wanted. I don't need sun or cities or neons. Just  _ you _ . And I don't know how many ways I can tell you before you get it through your thick head." She huffs. "You're stuck with me now. Can't get rid of me by moping about. Besides, you'll have your hands full soon enough. Won't be time for all this brooding."

 

His brows furrow again in obvious question and she smooths it with her thumb, tracing the outline of his face. That strong jaw. 

 

"Better hope our baby has your eyes."

 

"Seph, we've talked about this and I-"

 

The pain on his face is clear. Children are a very sore subject for both of them. Her lips soften into an almost coy grin. 

 

"Oh, I know we have. And you can cross that bit about giving me life off your pity list. Because you did."

 

Persephone watches his expression, the myriad of little emotions that cross it in a matter of minutes. Knows that at first he must be trying to decide if she's telling the truth and then trying to process how - though she's more than happy to give her husband a refresher on  _ how _ if he intends to stay all night. 

 

"Truly?" He asks in the quietest voice and it nearly breaks her. Oh, that look. He looks almost teary and something seizes her heart. In all their time together he's never cried in front of her. She can see him fighting with control to rein it in. Her fingers find his and squeeze.

 

"Yes." She says and for the first time, feels utterly delighted. A laugh bubbles up, almost incredulously. "Yes. It's true. Momma says I'm past the point where the others . . . ." She trails off. Another uncharacteristic laugh. She's barely spoke of it aloud. 

 

Hades is still for another few moments, before he  _ laughs _ .

 

It's the most beautiful sound. 

 

He gathers her in his arms before she realises what's happened. They're both laughing and kissing and she thinks  _ this _ is happiness. This moment with him, the two of them utterly delighted. She knows his desire for children rivals her own, considering the entire damned army both his brothers have spawned across the earth.

 

Breathless, she lets him take her face in his hands, calluses brushing against her skin. The look he wears this time she knows, and knows well. It's the same look he had worn all that time ago when he'd looked upon her in the garden. Begged on his knees. The look warms her beyond any words. 

 

Love. 

 

He's getting better at showing his love for her. Making her feel like the queen he'd made her. That look is all of it without a single uttered syllable. Finally he seems to have realised she doesn't need him to say fancy things or promises endless. 

 

"Love you too." She murmurs before she loses herself in him again. Their time now is precious because she knows he cannot stay long. He realises it too, fingers marking permanent paths across her dress almost reverently. They still over her abdomen which is just as its always been for now. He pressed his face against her shoulder, still and quiet. 

 

"You okay?" She asks gently. He nods. 

 

"Just feeling." He hums. Persephone grins.

 

"You softie."

 

"Only for you and our sprout."

 

That makes her laugh.

 

"Did you seriously just say that?"

 

His response is a chuckle and cheeky grin before his mouth claims hers again. They spend the evening entangled together with soft words and touches.

 

Persephone wakes to a summer morning that is cool and grey. She is alone, but there's a red carnation on the pillow by her head. 

 

She smiles. Things will be okay. 

 

\-----

 

Summer fades into fall, and the harvest is more than enough. Persephone knows the mortals will survive the winter and more. It might be a longer one this year. Mild, but longer. 

 

As the flowers fade, Persephone blossoms. Her sprout grows and by the time the first leaves are changing colors, it becomes quite obvious the goddess of spring has been harboring fruit of her own. Not that anyone cares or asks, just toasts her and her new life and asks how long until winter. 

 

She writes her lover the rest of the summer, but the last letter she gets from him in the middle of September is short and simple instructions. 

 

_ See you soon. Bring the boy. _

 

Persephone doesn't know what he's planning but if she has to kick her lover's ass, she's more than capable of doing it. But she obeys, and when she can feel the earth shift beneath her feet a day after the letter, she packs her bags, hugs her momma, and drags the poet with her to the station.

 

"He ain't gonna drag you down there, boy." She promises. "You have to be dead."

 

"I'm sure people being  _ alive _ never stopped him." He mutters and Persephone snorts.

 

"Could be something good."

 

If she's honest she has a small inkling of an idea. Her husband certainly wouldn't, but he's surprised her more than once. 

 

The tracks rumble and she hears the whistle, shrill and loud. She steps closer to the edge of the platform to watch the train as it comes over the horizon, billowing steam and the like. Her heart warms and the babe in her belly does the little flutter kick she's getting good at doing. 

 

"That's right, sprout. That's your daddy's train. We're going home."

 

The train rolls to a stop, the engine pulling two cars. Strange. The door to the closest one opens and off steps her man, all dark suit and shades. She grins broadly and steps forward to greet him. He gathers her in his embrace until her melon belly bumps his and oh, this is gonna take some getting used to. He doesn't seem to mind; he presses his forehead to hers in an intimate gesture and slips a hand across her belly. They sway to an invisible dance, an unheard song. It's awkward with her melon in the way, but they manage.

 

"Sprout's missed you. Been kicking fiercely." 

 

"Just they've missed me?" He asks and she snorts. 

 

"Me too, I reckon." Persephone  _ has _ missed him. Always does. He's visited of course, but it's never enough and Persephone is a greedy woman when it comes to her lover. Still determined to make up their time lost. 

 

"Take me home?" She murmurs. She's restless. So is Sprout. Their spring blossomed baby will be born in the underworld - oh, how they'd argued. She'd been advocating to honor her promise and stay the full six months underground. He'd argued otherwise. Demeter had intervened more than once. Persephone got her way. She knows he's secretly relieved to have her close when the time comes - he'd not likely make it to the surface in time if it were the other way around. 

 

"One moment." He promises, and glances behind her. She's almost forgotten Orpheus. He stands at the edge of the platform, uncertain as the king of the underworld turns his attention on him.

 

"Afternoon, Mr. Hades." Orpheus says despite himself, and Persephone is impressed how steady his voice sounds. 

 

"Orpheus." It's the first time she's heard her lover use the boy's name. She feels on edge, watching the two. Her lover and adopted son. 

 

"I have something for you." Hades rumbles. "Care to go for a train ride?"

 

What in hell is her husband up to? She meets Orpheus' gaze, who looks uncertain if he wants to accept the offer. Surely Hades hasn't - Persephone nods, subtly, and Orpheus returns it in a more deliberate manner and walks toward the train. 

 

"What are you doing?" Persephone asks as Hades takes her bags and ushers her onto the train following. He just smiles in that infuriating way and says nothing. Persephone arches a brow, but climbs onto the train and nearly bumps in Orpheus around the corner. 

 

"What -."

 

But she sees why he's stopped - because Eurydice is standing there a few feet away, staring back at him. 

 

Oh, her big softie. 

 

She watches the lovers embrace and turns toward Hades, who looks entirely too pleased with himself. He gestures quietly for her to join him in their usual car, leaving the lovers to their own. 

 

"You brought her here. Above ground." She says the moment she's shut the door. 

 

"She won't be able to leave the train and neither will he. But she can ride up here and they can ride down together. Hermes agreed to bring the boy back up."

 

"Is this a one time thing?"

 

"Maybe. Maybe not. They gave us our happiness and I want to give them something in return. Our secret?"

 

Persephone answers with a kiss that is far more than the soft one on the platform. The train lurches to life beneath them and he holds them steady. She melts against him with a quiet noise of content. It feels good to not be fighting. 

 

To be a functioning marriage again. 

 

They exist in a strange oxymoron. Life and death. It's a delicate balance to maintain and always will be, she knows. But she loves him and he loves her and it has always been like this. Always will be. Beginning of time to the end, when this gasball of a planet implodes from mortals or because Zeus couldn't get his shit together. Even then part of her thinks they'll endure. They're getting good at weathering storms. 

 

Persephone dozes on the train because growing something so complicated makes her more tired than she's ever been. Hades simply holds her, hands folded across her belly to feel every flutter of movement beneath. He can hear Persephone's heartbeat and now another, a beat as fast as a hummingbird wing.

 

Death had created life, and he still marvels at it. 

 

"We've waited a long time for you." Hades murmurs when he thinks Persephone can't hear him - but she isn't  _ that _ asleep. She pretends for his sake. 

 

"Try not to give your mother too much grief. You get her the whole year, after all. I get the two of you for half. I'll visit, I already promised that." His fingers follow the trail of movement across her side, and she stifles the urge to giggle because it tickles. 

 

"We haven't decided on your name yet. Don't suppose you have any favorites?" A pause. "Of course not. But we'll pick a strong one. Because you're strong. Blossomed like a rose in a desert storm."

 

The train dips into darkness of the underground.

 

"You'll be safe. Protected.  _ Loved.  _ Gods, so very loved. I may not be great - I haven't had any practice and I have a terrible sense when it comes to wants, so you'll have to tell your old man flat out most of the time."

 

Her lips twitch. 

 

"Hopefully you'll look more like your mother. Most beautiful woman I've ever met. Don't know why she married me; I'm ugly as a snake."

 

"If you start shedding your skin, I might reconsider." She murmurs in her half asleep state and he chuckles. 

 

"Rest. We'll be home soon."

 

And they are. When she opens her eyes the train has stopped. She steps out onto the platform where Eurydice is now, staring at the window of the car where Orpheus sits, talking in minute facial expressions. She smiles softly, almost sadly. Hades steps off the train with her bags and the train begins to leave. Eurydice watches it until it disappears. 

 

"Thank you." She says quietly to Hades. "I don't know why you did it. But thank you."

 

"Even I don't know my husband's motivations half the time." Persephone grins at her. "Good to see you, girl."

 

Eurydice smiles. 

 

"You too. You look amazing."

 

"I haven't developed a planetary orbit yet, but we'll see. You doing okay?" 

 

Eurydice walks with them to town and breaks off before the path to the house. Hades takes up her arm again and they walk quietly together. The air is clearer. Less noise. It's almost the underworld he had brought her to that very first time when she'd run away with him. She inhales deeply, and smiles.

 

"You've done a lot. I like it." She muses and Hades glances over like he's been waiting for her to say something about it.

 

"Really?"

 

"Really." She says. He preens at her praise like a damned peacock and she elbows him. "Don't let it go to your head."

 

"Too late."

 

"Mhm. Just for that I'm putting my ass in those hot springs for the next few hours. Without you."

 

"Then who will bring you those disgusting little biscuits you seem to be craving?"

 

"I swore Hermes to secrecy! That absolute bastard."

 

"Who do you think brought down enough boxes to feed an army before you arrived?"

 

Persephone laughs and they fall into their usual play bickering and conversations. It's disgustingly domestic and she loves every single second.

**Author's Note:**

> the small reference to dancing on the platform is inspired by amber gray's interview with live at five when she was first getting to know patrick page during workshops and she was eight months pregnant trying to rehearse their little dance together.


End file.
